Social Media Targeting Options for Advertising

Social media advertising helps local businesses connect with audiences in a medium where they are apt to discover new products. Who sees these ads depends on social media targeting. Each platform has its own nuances, but there are common threads among demographics and interests.

However, there are also rules to follow, with limitations on some targeting options. Understanding what’s available and tying that back to advertiser goals is crucial for ads to perform well.

Let’s look at some of the most popular platforms and how to target strategically and compliantly.

Meta Targeting Capabilities

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, continues to be a leading platform for social media ads. The targeting options have evolved. There are general demographic attributes like age, gender and language. Meta is very sensitive to targeting controversies and has taken steps to limit many associated with interests and behaviors.

You can’t target by race or religion. Instead, you could use language. Interests may also fill this gap if an advertiser wants to launch ads for specific holidays like Hannukah.

Some more specific demographics to narrow down an audience include things like life events (e.g., newly engaged), parental status, household composition and education. If people share this information on their profiles, it can be an excellent way to connect. For example, local businesses with after-school or summer camps could use the parental status and household composition options.

Interests are also a targeting avenue on Meta properties. One of the big groups is hobbies and activities. This would be great for advertisers looking for people who love art, photography, cooking or other hobbies. It would align well with any advertiser that knows their ideal customer profile with details on their interests.

Behaviors are another targeting category. These correlate with what Facebook or Instagram users do online. Travel is a good one to highlight here and helps brands reach people who would be good candidates for hospitality ads.

LinkedIn: B2B Targeting

LinkedIn is typically the top choice for B2B advertisers. If your customers want to engage business decision makers, LinkedIn advertising is a must. One thing the platform lacks is more sophisticated geotargeting. You can target by language, however, which may be advantageous.

LinkedIn offers another big group of social media targeting options: audience attributes. You can build an audience based on their company industry, category and size. At the individual level, demographic targeting includes age and gender.

Another area is education, which most profiles include. You can use degrees and fields of study. Job experience, titles, function, seniority, skills and years of expertise also allow you to define the audience more precisely.

YouTube Targeting Opportunities

If advertisers have video assets and want to invest in this medium, YouTube offers an array of tactics. The targeting criteria align with Google’s since Google owns the platform. Special interests, intents and demographics are all options, including:

Demographics: Target by age, gender, parental status, household income, homeownership and more.
Interests: YouTube has some very niche interests. For example, instead of “sports fans” as a target for a running shoe shop, you can specifically target marathon runners.
Life events: For this group, purchase behavior shifts indicate that a milestone has occurred, such as getting married or graduating from college.
Keyword searching: Another way to target is by the keywords a user has searched for on Google.

Snapchat Targeting Selections

Snapchat works really well for advertisers seeking to reach younger generations. It offers standard demographic options like age, gender and language. You can also choose devices for targeting (iOS, Android or web).

Snapchat doesn’t have traditional interest or behavior attributes. Instead, you can submit phone numbers, emails or device identifiers to create a Snap audience. Then, you can expand that with look-alike audiences. Other capabilities include targeting users who have visited your website or interacted with previous ads.

TikTok Targeting Choices

TikTok, like all platforms, lets you begin building an audience via demographics like age, gender, location and language. You can then get more specific with interests and behaviors. Some of the most popular categories are music, fashion, sports, travel and entertainment. In terms of behaviors, you can target people based on their online actions and purchases.

One unique concept of TikTok is smart targeting. This expands the audience by identifying users who are more likely to meet the campaign objective. It enables the platform to show your ads to those beyond your curated targeting.

Social Media Targeting: Defining the “Who” Depends on the “What”

For social media targeting to deliver on campaign goals, you first need to define those. You can outline goals by asking your advertiser specific questions. Then, begin to assemble what the ideal audience would look like based on targeting options.

This assessment also ensures you recommend the best platforms. Additionally, you want to understand the company’s posting and engagement on the sites. If they have a minimal organic presence, ads may not perform as they expect.

You also have to explain to your customers what’s possible. They may have preconceived notions about audience targeting that aren’t accurate or available. There’s no “perfect” targeting, and you don’t want to be too narrow or broad.

Another best practice to recommend is having a multi-tactic campaign. Only putting ads on Facebook or TikTok won’t deliver the reach and performance advertisers desire. Complementing these ads with radio spots, CTV, display or streaming audio gives the campaign more legs.